According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), there is a continued increase in the severity of weather-related impacts. For example, a growing population and trends such as urban sprawl and conversion of rural land to suburban landscapes increase the likelihood a tornado will impact densely populated areas. And enhanced overlap in the U.S. economy means that a single weather event can have a significant effect on several industries.
When properly used, emergency radios (or “weather radios”) have proven to be effective in warning of emergency situations. However, the initial programming of emergency radios can be difficult. Typically, a 6-digit NWR Specific Area Message Encoding county code (generally referred to as “SAME county code” or “SAME county number”, and sometimes referred to herein simply as “SAME code”) associated with a desired (or “primary”) location (typically a county) is identified from a table and input into an emergency radio's memory. Then, the user must input a frequency or channel associated with that SAME code that has a clear transmission to the radio. The radio will become linked to one transmitter associated with the primary location, and updates from that transmitter for the chosen county will be received and presented. Moreover, a user may often be interested in the weather from nearby locations as well, and can typically choose to input additional SAME county codes into the emergency radio's memory. If the additional locations are also associated with the linked transmitter, updates for the additional locations may similarly be received and emitted. If the additional locations are not associated with the linked transmitter, no updates for those locations will be received; radios only become linked with one transmitter. Thus, a false sense of security may result if a user believes that he is monitoring weather in a nearby county but actually is not.
The current invention relates to devices that warn of emergency situations, such as those caused by weather events.